The evening world. Newspaper, March 13, 1916, Page 15

Tre \ #By R } ) The Evening World Daily Magazine, Mon The Day of Rest mit ere rape neneomgonenenene wren 022 asure Island Perhaps the Greatest Adventure Romance in All Fiction obert Louis Stevenson RAF DAA ARAN AM HARMAN AAAMAA CHAPTER I. The Old Sea-Dog. j) QUIN THELAWNBY, Dr, Livesey and the reat of these gentlemen having asked me to write down the whole particulars about Treas- ure Island, from the beginning to the end, keeping nothing back but the bearings of the isiand, and that only because there js atill / treasure not yet lifted, I take up my pen in the year of grace 18—, and go back to the time when my father kept the Admiral Benbow Inn and the \, brown old seaman, with the sabre-cut, first took up his lodging under our root, breaking out In that old e#ea-song ‘that he sang so often afterward: “Fifteen men on tho dead man's chest, Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!" fn the high, old tottering voice that weamed to have been tuned and broken at the capstan bars. Then he rapped on the door witli a bit of stick Uke & handspike that he carried, and when my father appeared, called roughly for @ glass of rum. This, when jt was brought to him, he drank slowly, like @ connoisseur, liugering on the taste, and still looking about him at the cliffs and up at our sign- board. “This is a handy cove,” said he, at Yength; “and a pleasant sittyated @Tog-shop. Much company, mate?” ) My father told him no, very ittle company, the more was the pity. “Well, then,” said he, “this is the berth for me, Here you, matey,” he cried to the man who trundied the barrow; “bring up alongside and help up my chest. I'll stay here a bit,” he continued, “I'm a plain man; rum and bacon and eggs is what I want, and that head up there for to watch ships off. What you mought call me? You mought call me captain, Oh, I see what you're at—there;" and he threw down three or four gold pieces on the threshold. “You can tell me when I've worked through that,” said he, looking as fierce a# a commander, And, indeed, bad as his olothes were, and coarsely as he spoke, he had none of the appearance of @ man ‘who sailed before the mast, but seem- -ed'Hke a mate or skipper, accustomed to be obeyed or to strike, The man who came with the barrow told us the mail had set him down the morning before at the Royal George; that he had inquired what inns there were long the coast, and hearing ours well ken of, 1 suppose, and described es lonely, had chosen tt from the others for his place of residence. And that was all we could learn of our guest. He wes a very silent man by cus- tom. All day he hung round the ovve, or upon the cliffs, with a brass tele- soope; all evening ho sat in a corner of the parlor next the fire, and drank rum and water very strong. Mostly he would not speak when spoken to; onty look up sudden and fierce, and blow through his nose like @ fog- horn; and we and the people who came about our house soon learned to jet him be. Every day, when he came from stroll, he would ask if seafaring men had gone along the At first we thought tt was the t of company of his own kind that fade iim ask this question; but at lest we to see he was desirous to avoid them. When a seaman put the Admima] Benbow (as now ana n_gome did, making the coast », Foed to Bristol), he would look in at ) him through the curtained dvor be- fore he entered the parlor; and he was always sure to be as silent as a mouse ‘when any such was present. For me, ere was no secret about the Satter: tor I was, ine way, @ sharer ie alarms, He had taken me asife one day and mined me a etiver fourpenny on first of every month {f I would only keep my “weather eyo open, for a seafaring man with ono leg,” and let him know the moment . Often enough, when the of the month came round, and z fed to him for my wage, he only dilow through his nose at and stare me down, but beforo woek was out he was sure to think of tt, bring me my fourpenny and repeat his orders to look “the seafaring man with one ° a that so hacnted my @reama, 1 n scarcely tell you. On @tormy nights, when the wind shook four corners of the house, and @urf roared along the cove and the cliffs, I would ee him tn a forms, and with a thousand @abolical expressions. Now the ler would be cut off at the knee, now at the hip; now he was a monstrous kind of @ creature who had never had but the one leg, and that In the middle body. To sea him leap and insta me over hedge and h, was the worst of nightmares ren Altoeather I paid. pretty dear for onthly fourpenny plece in the rN shape of these abominable fancies, But though T was eo terrified by of the seafaring man with Iw 8 afraid of the rn nybody else cS wera nights when het ra rum and qwater than his head would carry; and then he would s nea sit and sing his wicked, old, wild sea-songa, mind. ing nobody; but sometimes he would call for glasses round, and force all the trembling company to listen to his stories op bear 1 chorus to hia sing- ing. Often T have heard the houss shaking with » anda} ttle of rir rs joining In sear rug » fear of death upon. the y singing 1 than tho Troma in_ these . a riding i ¢ known would flv wor ’ anger at A question, or sometinos becar none Was put, and #o nd the company vi { ‘ Nor would he un 5 the inn. vil iran aleopy and reeled off to bed Hy His stories were what frichtened people worst of ail, Dreadful stories they were—about hanging, and walk- ing the plank, and storms at sea, and the Dry Tortugas, and wild deeds and places on the Spanish Main, By Ais own account, he must have lved I remember him aa if it were yesterday, as he came plodding to the inn ws, Gor, his sea-chest following behind him in @ hand-barrow; @ tall, strong, heavy, nut-brown man; hie tarry pigtail falling over the shoulders of his @oiled blue coat; his hands ragged and @oarred, with black, broken natin, ‘and the sabre-cut across one cheek, a dirty, livid white. I remember him looking round the cove and whistling to himself as he did so, and then his Nfe among some of the wickedest men that God ever allowed upon the soa; and the language in which he told these stories shooked our plain country people almost as much as the crimes that he described. My father was always saying the inn would be rulned, for people would soon cease coming there to be tyrannized over end put down, and sent shivering to their beds; but 1 really believe his Presence did us good. People were frightened at the time, but on look- ing back they rather liked it; it was @ fine exoitement in a quiet country life; and there was even a party of the younger men who pretended to admire him, calling him @ “true sea- dog,” and @ “real old salt,” and such Uke names, and saying there was the sort of man that made England ter- rible at sea, In one way, indeed, he bate fair to ruin us; for he kept on staying week | after week, and at last month after month, #o that all the money had been long exhausted, and still my father never plucked up the heart to) insist on having more. If ever he mentioned it, the Captain blew threw his nose so loudly that you might say he roared, and stared my poor father out of the room. I have seen him wringing his hands after such @ rebuff, and I am sure the an- | noyance and the terror he lived in must have greatly hastened his early | and unhappy death. All the time he Mved with us the Captain made no change whatever in his dress but to buy some stockings from a hawker, One of the eooks of | his hat having fallen down, he let it | hang from that day forth, though it was @ great annoyance when it blew. I remember the appearance of his coat, which he patched himself up- stairs in his room, and which, before the end, was nothing but patches. He tied wrote ot received @ letter, and never spole with any but the neighbors, and with Most part, only when drunk on rum. The great sea-chest none of us had ever seen open. He was only once crossed, and that Was toward the und, when my poor father was far fg in @ decline that took him off. ir. Livesey came late one afternoon to see the patient, took 4@ bit of dinner from my mother and went into the parlor to smoke a pipe until his horse should oome down from the hamlet, for we had no stabling at the olf Benbow. I fol- lowed him tn, and I remember observ- ing the oontrast the neat, bright doo- tor, with his powder as white as snow and bis bright, black eyas and pleasant manners, made with the colt- Ish country folk, and above all, with that filthy, heavy, bleared scarecrow of @ pirate of ours, sitting far gone in ru with his arms on the table, Suddenly he—the captain, that is— began to pipe up his eternal song: * ‘men on the dead man’s cheat-— -ho and a bottle of rum! Drink oe the devil had done for the r Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!” At first I had supposed “the dead man's chest" to be that Identical big box of his upstairs in the front room, and the thought had been mingled in my nightmares with that of the one- legged seafaring man, But by this time we had all long ceased to pay any particular notice to the song; it was new, that night, to nobody but Dr. Livesey, and on him I observed it did not produce an agreeable e@ fect, for he looked up for a moment, quite angrily before he went on with his talk to old Taylor, the gardener, on a new oure for rheumatica. In the mean time the captain gradually brightened up at his own musio, and At last flapped his hand upon the table before him in a way we all knew to mean—asllence, The voices stopped at once, all but Dr. Livesey’s; he went on as before, speaking clear and kind, and drawing briskly at hia pipe be- tween every word or two. The cap- tain glared at him for a while, flapped hin hand @iared «till harder, and at inat brok out with a villainous low oath: “Senos, there, between decks!" “Were you addressing me, sir?” sald the doctor: and when the ‘rut. flan had told him, with another oath, that this was so, replied, “T have only one thing to say to you, air, that If you keep on drinking rum, the world will soon be quit of @ very dirty seoundrel!"" The old fellows fury was awful. He sprung to his feet, drew aud opened a ee lor's clasp-knife, and bal- Aneing {t open on the palm of his hand, threatened to pin the doctor to the wall, ‘The doctor never so much as moved. Ha spoke to him, as before, over nis shoulder, and tn the same tone of volea, her high, so that all the room miecht hear, but perfectly calim and steady: “If you do not put that knife this Instant into your pocket, I promise upon my honor, you shall hang at the next assizes,” Then followed a battle of looks be tween them; but the captain soon Kknuckled under, put up his weapon, and resumed his seat, grumbling Nike @ beaten dog, “And pn tor, ' air,” continued the doo- ince I now know the: such in my district, you may ! have an eve upon vou day count and night. Tm not a doctor only, I'm a magi und if T eateh a breath iplnint against you, 1f I's only 1 plece of inelvility tke to-night's, I'll ta ffectual means to have you hunted down and routed out of this. Let this suffice.” Soon after Doctor Livesey's horse came to the door and he rode away, but the captain held his peace that these, for the) eR eta By Maurice Ketten day, March 13, 1916 HE WENT Te & SMOKER LAST NIGHT ed | know of lands ike that? WHAT WOULD YOU with earthquakes—what do the doctor and I ived on rum, I tell you. It's been meat and drink, and man and wife, to me; and if 1am not to have my rum now in & poor old hulk on @ lee shore My blood’ be on you, Jim, and that doctor swab, d be ran on again for a while with curses, “Look, Jim, how my fingers fdgeta,” he continued in the pleading tone. can't keep |‘em still, not 1. 1 baven’t had a drop thin blessed day. That doctor's a fool, I tell you. If | don’t have a drain of rum, Jim, I'll have the horrors; I seen some on ‘em already, Tseen old Filnt tn © corner there, betind you; as plain print, 1 aeen him; and if I get the horrora, I'm @ man that has lived rough, and Til raise Cain. Your doctor blanelf said one glass wouldn't hurt me, T'li give you @ golden guinea | for a noggin, Jim.” He was growing more and more ex- cited, and this alarmed me, for my futher, who was very low that day, needed quiet; besides, I was reas- sured by the doctor’a words, now quoted to me, and rather offended by the offer of a bribe, “I want none of your money,” sald 1, “but what you owe my father, I'll ot you one glass and no mor When | brought it to him he seized it greedily and drank {t out, “that's some bet- “Ay, ay,” said he, ter, sure enough, did that doctor to ie here In this old berth?’ ‘A week at loast,” said I, “Vhunder!” be erted, “A week! I can't do that; they'd have a black spot on me by then. The lubbers ts going about to get the wind of me this) blessed moment; lubbers as couldn't keep what they got, and want to nail what ts another's. Ja that seamanly behavior, now, Tt want to know? But I'm a #aving soul, I naver Wi 14 good money of mine, nor lost it neither; and I'll triok ‘em again, I'm not afraid of ‘em, ['ll shake out another reef, matey, and daddie ‘em again.” As ho was thus speaking, he had risen from bed with great difficulty, holding to my shoulder with @ grip that almost made me cry out, aad moving his \ like so much dead weight, His words, spirited aa they were in meaning, contrasted sadly with the weakness of the voice in which they were uttered, He paused when he had got into « sitting posl- evening, and for many evenings to come, CHAPTER I. Black Dog Appears. T was not very long after this that there occurred the firet of the mysterious events that rid us at last of the Captain, though not, as you will see, of hie affairs. It was @ bitter cold winter, with long, hard frosts and heavy gales; and it was plain from the first that my poor father was little likely to seo the epring, He sank daily, and my mother and I had ali the tun upon our hands, and were kept busy enough without paying much regard to our unpleasant guest. it was one January morning, very early—e pinching, frosty moruing- the cove all gray with hoar-frost, the tipple lapping softly on the stones, the sun still low, and only touching the hilltops and ining far to # ward, Tho Captain had riven earlier than usual, and set out down the beach, his cutlass swinging under the broad are of the old blue coat, his Tass telescope under his aria, his hat tilted back upon his head, % re meomber his breath hanging like smoke in his wake us he strode off, and the last sound I heard of hin as he turned the big rock was a loud anort of indignad jon, as though his was stil running Di Livesey. Re ee Well, mother was upstairs with father, and I wee laying the break- fast table against the tain's re turn, when the parlor door opened and @ man @epped in on whom | had Rever get my eyes before, He was & pam, ellews creature, wun two "8 of the left hand; and, though he wore a cutlass, be did not look much like @ fighter. | had always my eyes open for seafaring men, with one es or two, and I remember Unis ono Puzzled ine, He wae not sailorly, and Eft Ne had @ smack of the sea about im too. T asked him what was for his serv- fe, and be sald be would take rum, but as I was going out of the room to fetch it he sat down upon a table Qnd motioned for me to draw near. I paused where I was with my nap- kin in my hand. “Como here, sonny,” said he. “Come here.” I took @ step nearer. ) this here table for uy mate Bil?" he asked, with a kind of leer. I told him I did not know his mate Bill, apd this was for a person who stayed at our house, whom wo called the captain, “Well,” sald he, y mate Bill would be culled the captain, as like as not. He has @ cut on one cheek and a mighty pleasant way with b particularly in drink, has my mate Bil, We'll put It, for argument Hie, that your captain has a cut on one cheek—and we'll put it, !f you Ike, that that cheek's the right one, Ah, well, I told you. ow, 18 my mate Bill In this here house?” I told him he was out walking: “which way, sonny? Which way fs he pone?" And when I pointed ont the rock and told him how the eaptain 8 Nkely to ret and anawered a few c t be as good a “Ah,” said rink to my ni 1 "Pre expresion of his face na he sald theye words was not at all ploasant, and I had my own reasons for think- ing that the stranger was mistaken, even supposing he meant what he sald. But it was no afuir of mine, I thought; and, besides, it was difficult to know what to do, The stranger kept hanging about just Inside the inn door, peering round the corner like a cat waiting for a mouse, Once I @tepped out myself into the road, but he Immedtately called me back, and, as I did not obey quick enough for his fancy, a mort horrible chang» caine over his tallowy face, and he ordered me in with an oath that me me sump As soon as I was back again he re- turned to his former manner, half- fawning, half-eeering, patted me o the shoulder, told me I was a good boy, and he had taken quite a fancy tome. “I have @ son of my own,” said he, “as like you as twd blocks, and he's all the pride of my ‘art. But great thing for boys is dis sonny—discipline, Now, tf y« sailed along of Dill, you wouldn’ stood there to be spoke to twice-—n you. ‘That was never Bill's way, nor the way of sich as sailed with him, And here, sure enough, is my mate Bill, with a epy-glass under } ‘less his old ‘art, to be sure ng An Just fo back tnto the parlor and get behind the door, and ve Hill a little surpr his ‘art, I eay again,” So saying, the stranger along with te Into the backed parlor, & put me behind him tn the corner, # that we were both hidden by the of door, Iwas very uneasy and alarmed 8 you may fancy, and it rather add ‘omy fears to observe that the stranger was oertainly frightened himaelf, He oleared the hilt of his cutlass and loonened the blide tn the sheath, and all the time we were waiting there he kept swallowing os if he felt wnat we used to call a tump tn the throat. At last in etrode the captain, alan med the door behind him, with out looking to the right or left, and merched straight acrona the room to where his breakfast awatted him. "BIL" sald the stranger, In a votos that I thought he had tried ty make bold and bic. The captain spun round on his heel and fronted us; all the brown had fone out of his face, and even his nose was blue; he had the look of a man who seos a ghost, or the Pvtl One, or s hing worse, tf anyth can on my ‘word sorry to ® 1in a mome 4 and nick, me, Bill n old atro be: and you know me shipmate, Pit, ger he onntain t de @ sort of Kasp. sald he returned the other, 4 speak up wide open. “None of your keyholes for me sonny,” ho said, and I left them together and retired into the ar, For a long thine, though I certainly did my best to listen, 1 could hear nothing but a low gabbling; but at lust the voices began to grow higher, and | oovld pick up @ word or two, y oaths, from the Captain, No, no, no, no; and an end of it!” he cried once, And again, “If it comes to #winging, swing all, say L” Then all of @ sudden there was a tremendous explosion of oaths and other noises; the chair and table went over in @ lump, @ clash of steol tol- jowed, and then @ cry of pain, and the next instant I saw Black Dog in full Might and the Captain hotly pur- suing, both with drawn cutlasnes, and the former streaming bloud frou the eft shoulder, Just at the door the Captain aimed at the fugitive one last tremendous out, which would cer tainly have split him to the chin had not been Interoepted by our bik signboard of Admiral Henbow, You nay see the notch on the lower side of the frame to this day. hut blow was the last of the battle Once out upon the road, Diack Dog, apite of his wound, showed a won derful clean pair of hees, and disap peared over the edge of the hill in half @ minute. ‘The Captain, for his irt, stood staring at the slgntoard xe & bewtldered man. Then he wed his hand over his eyes several os, and at last turned back Into #0, nays he, “rum;" and as he spoke be recled @ Lttis, and ought himeelf wth one hand against the wall ‘Rum," be repeated, “I must get away from bere. Rum! Rum!" I ran to fetch #, but 1 was quite unsteadied by all that had fallen out, and 1 broke one glase and fouled the tap, and while [ was still getting in my own way, I heard @ joud fail tn the parlor, and, running tn, beneld the Captain lying full length upon the floor At the same instant my mother, alarmed by the cries and fighting, came running downataire to be 5 Hetween us we raised lis head THe Was breathing very loud and hard but his eyes were closed and bis face was ® horrible oolor. dreary me,” at & Gingrace upon {your father mick" ! 6 meantime we had po do to help the Captain, r thought mut that Jeath-hurt In the acu anger. I got the and tried to put tt but his teeth were and bis Jaws ae atrong & 4 happy rellef for us when th ened and Doctor Livese via visit to my. father 4 doctor,” we orted, we Where ts he wounr “Wounded? A fiddle-st en 6 doctor, “No more wot t you or L The man haa hi piroke as 1 warned him, Now 1 just you run ir husband and tell him, if posst- s about It, For my part, f Lest to save. this tellow's views life; amd Jim N ea basin.” \\ 1 got back with the basin tor hud already ripped up the 5 4 sleeve and exposed his ut sinewy arm, It was tattooed “Here's luok,” "A fulr paid mother, the house! idea. nor Mra. upstairs to ! “Btlly Bones, dis fan were ve nea and olearly exo cuted on the forearm, and up near the shoulder there was a sketch of a gallows and 4 man hanging from it— done, as I thought, with great spirit. “Prophetic,” guid the doctor, touch- ing this ure with his finger, “And Master Hilly Bones, tf that be your name, we'll have a look at the r of your blood. Jim,” he said, raid of blood? ail «ald hea “you hoki the and with that he took his lancet and opened a vein t deal of blood wan taken be- ‘Aplain opened his eyes and looked miatlly about 1 Firat he recognized the doctor with an unimis- Wkable frown: n hia glance fall upon me, and he looked relieved. But suddenly his color changed, and he tried to raise himself orytng: “Where's Black Dox? “There Is no Black the doctor “except what you have on your own back. You have been drink- ing rum; you have had « stroke pre- cisvly as I told you, and I have just, Dog here” sald very muoh against my own will, dragged you headforemost out of the grave, Now, Mr, Bones" — That's not my nus he Inter- ted. I care,” returned the doo. the name of & buccaneer of my acquaintance, und [call you by tt for the sake of shortness, and what I have to may to you Is this: One vlasa of rum won't kill you, but if you take one you'll take another and another, and I stake my wig if you don't break off short, you'll die. Do you understand 7 ‘Dio, and go to your own place, like the man in tho Bible, Come, now, make an effort, I'l help you to your bed for once.” Between us, with much trouble, we managed to holst him upstairs and laid him on hin bed, where his head fol] back on tho pillow, aa If he were alnost fainting. “Now, mind you,” anid the dootor, “1 clear my consclence—the name of rum for you i» death.” And with that he went off to se my father, taking me with him by the arm, “This ta nothing,” he aatd, ar oon ans he had ole 4 the door. have drawn b! enough quiet awh he should If where he ix—that Is the for him and yon. but anc wonld gettio him x for beat thing r atroke CHAPTER III. The Black Spot. nour at the . t eome 1 I atoppe ‘a door with oc drinks and medi- cines, He was lying very much as we had left him, only @ iit er, and he seemed both weak and excited ho aall, “you're the only here that's worth anything; and you know I've always been good to you. Never a month but I've given you a asflver fourpence for yourself, And now you #00, mute, I'm pretty low, and deserted by all; and Jim, you'll bring mo ene noggin of rum, w won't you, matey? "The di I be. a. But he broke in cursing the dootor In @ fooble v 6, but 4 “Doe- tors \s awaha," bh and that Joator there, x t do be know aban aring ‘mer 1 been p and mates drop DEG und t , ndthe blessed land a-heaving like the sea tion on the edge, a “That doctor's done me,” he mur- mured, “My ears 1s singing. Lay mo back.” Before I could do much to help him he Lad fallen back again to his former place, where he lay for awhile silent. “olin,” he wald, at length, “you saw that seafaring man to-day?” “Pluck Dog?" 1 asked, “An! Black Dog,” sald he, “He's nj but there's worse that put eta Now, if I can't get away nohow, and they tip me the black spot, rind you, It's my old sea-chest © after; you get on @ horse— can, can't you? Well, then, you ret on @ horse and go to—well, vtll—-to that eternal doctor aw: tell him to pipe all hands—magis- trates and atch—and he'll lay ‘em aboard at the Admiral Benbow—aill old Fiint's crew, man and boy, all on ‘em thats left. [ was first mate, I was, old Flint's first mate, and I'm the on'y one as knows the place, He gave it me to Savannah, when he lay a-dying, ke as if {was to now, you neo, Hut you won't peach unless they Ket the black spot on me, or unless you se@ that Black Dog again, or a seafaring man with one leg, Jim Ain above all" “E what the black spot, cap- tal 1 asked, ‘““Vhata a summons, mal rn tell you if they get that. But you keep your weather-eye open, Jim, and [ll Share with you equals, upon my honor.” Ho wandered @ Httle longer, his voice growing weaker; but soon after T had given him his medicine, which he took Hike a child, with the remark “If ever @ ‘an wanted drugs, {t's me," ho fo last into a heavy, awoon-like aleep, tn which T left What [should have done had all gone well I do not know, Probably 1 should have told the whole story to the doctor; for I was In mortal fear lest the captain should repent of hts confessions and make an end of me. Tut as things fell out, my poor father lied quite suddenly that evening, which put all other mattera on one side, Our natural distress, the visits of the neighbors, the arranging of the funeral, and all the work of the tno to be carried on in the moan while, Kept me so busy that f had scarcely tine to think of the captain, far less to be afraid of him He got downstairs next morning, to bo sure, and had his meals as usual, though he ate little, and had Tam afraid, than his usual 'y of rum, for he heiped himself out of the bar, scowling and blowing through his nose, and no one dared to cross him, On the before the funeral he was as drunk as ever, {t was shocking, in that house ourning, to hear him singing way his ugly old sea-song; but y as be yas, We were all in fear of death tor was suddenly use of many miles and was r near the house y father’s death, 1 have said captain was wes ed he and the d en up with ed rather to & ain nig He Glam up and di , and went the parlor to the bar and back again, and sometimes put his nose out of loora to sinell the sea, holding on to walls as ho went for eu ort, and w hard and fast, } . man ‘ ain, He never par- tioularly @ me, and tt {9 my bellef he had as good as forgotten his confidences; but his temper was more fl 4, allowing for his bodily weakness, more violent than ever, He had an alarming way now when ne waa drunk of drawing his cutlass and laying it bare before hum or table, But with ail that he minded pooplesdess, and seemed shut uy his ow? thoughts and rather wandar- I and at one look the rum went oi! EMMY rome. DO IF YOU META GLORIOUSLY BEAUTIFUL GIRL § In the Springtime Forest and She Ss Al|D——? But What She Said Is Best Told in Next Week's Complete Novel in THE EVENING WORLD THE SPRING LADY BY MARY BRECHT PULVER It fa not quite like the other stories you've read. it has a charm ang originality that will appeal to you. % : PLEASE DON’T MISS IT! : [RAR A AAA ATMA RMA MAAR HAA RAI | And ARS Be. ing. Once, for instance, to our ex- treme wonder, he piped up to a dif- ferent air, a kind of country beve- song that he must have jearned in his ‘youth before he had oarum to ow the sea, So things passed until the day efter al and about three o'eivek ey, frosty aftersoon, I was standing at the door tw @ Moment, full of sad thoughts @éout my father, when I saw some one drawing slowly nearer along the road. He ly blind, fow be tapped before him with @ stick, and wore & great green shade ovea bi es and nose; and he was hunahed, as if with age or weakness, and wore @ huge old tattere! sea-clonk with @ hood that made him appear posievely deiormed, 1 never saw in my itfe a tnore dreadful-looking figure. He stopped a litte from the inn and, raising his voice in an odd sing-song, @ddressed the air in front of hina: “Will any kind friend informa a poor blind man, who has low the precious sight of his eyes in the ous defense of his native @eun- and God bless King where or in what past of tus country he may now be?” “You are at the Admiral Bempow, Black Hill Grove, my good man,” said I. “IT hear a votoo,” said he, “a yung voice, Will you give me your mand, my, kind young friend, and lead me ate I held out my hand, and the hor- rible, soft-spoken eyeloss creature gripped it in a moment like a rise I was go much startled that I srug gied to withdraw, but the blind man pulled me close up to him wah a gingle action of his arm. Now, boy,” he sald, to the captain. “Bir,” said I, “upon my weed I dare not,” “Oh,” he sneered, “that’s tt! Take me in etraight, or I'l break your arm.” He gave tt, as he spoke, @ wrench that made me cry out. “Str,” sald 1, “it is for yourself I mean, The captain is not what he used to be. He sits with a drawn outlass, Another gentieman”—~ “Come, now, march,” interrupted he, and I never heard a voice so eruel and cold and ugly as that blind paan's, It cowed me more than the pain and I began to obey him at once, walking straight In at the door and toward the parlor, where the sick old bucowgeer was sitting, dazed with rum, The blind man clung close to me, hoafing me in one iron fist and leaning al- most moro of his wetght on me T could carry, “Lead me stratgmt up to him, and when I'm in view, ory out, ‘Hero's a friend for you, Bik’ It ‘ou don't, I'll do this,’ and with that e gave mo a twitch that I theught would have made me faint, Between this and that I was so utterly tervified by the blind bergar that 1 forget my terror of the captain, and as I opened the parlor door cried out the words he had ordered tn a trembling vetoe. The poor captain raised his ‘take owe in of him ond left him staring sober, The expression of his faco was net #o much of terror as of mortal sickness. He made @ movement to rise, bu& I do not believe he had enough force left « in his body, “Now, Bill, sit where you are,” eatd the beggar. “If 1 can't see I can hear a finger stirring, Business ta ®ust- ness, Hold out your left hand. Boy, take his left hand by the wrist and h s it near to my right.” We both obeyed him to the 5 and I saw him pass something trom the hollow of the hand that hekd his stick into the palm of the captain's, which closed updn it Instantly, “And now that's done,” sat@ the blind man, and at the words he sud- denly left hold of me, and with in- credible acouracy and nimbleness, akipped out of the parlor and Inte the road, where, as I stood motionimga, | could hear his stick go tap-tap-tap- ping into the distance, It was some time before eithee I or the captain seemed to gather our nonses; but at len, and aboug the same moment, released his exist, which I waa still holding, and he drew in Mia hand, and looked’ sharply into the palm, Ys “Ten o’clook!” he cried, “Aix heures! We'll dg them yet!” and he spreeg to ni p iven a8 he did #o, he reeled, put Ris hand to his throat, stood swaying tor then, with a pestllar his whole helght face the floor, Tran to him at once, calling t my mother, But haste was all in vatn, = ain had been struck dead by De apoplexy It ts a curious understand, for I had cer. ly never liked the man, though of I had begun to pity him, bet as thing to t soon as I w that he was a burst Into a flood of tears. It wae the second 4 ho had kn vn. an@ the cy woof the first was still fregh In my heart CHAPTER I, The Sea-Chest. LOST no time, of telling my mother all that I knew, and perhaps smould have told her long before, and we saw ourselves at once tn a dificult and dangwous position. Some of the man's money. if he had any--was ce dwe to us, but it was not | tour cap tain's shipmates, above all the two 4 apectmens by “mo--Black Dog x» and the 1 would be tt clined to give up thelr booty tn pay: mont of the dead man's ta. ‘The 5 s order now * and ride for Dr. Liv v » left my mo 1 od, 3 which was not to b In lood, It seemet tmp: for evther 4 of us to remain much } rim the 4 house; the fall of coals itehen, grate, the very ticking of the ate, > filled us wih alarm zt (36 Be Continued)